'Downtown' Would Carry With It Destruction Of Deltona's Lifestyle

Opinion My Word

April 30, 1989|By Leola Sweeney

The Deltona ''downtown complex'' proposed by a Jacksonville developer and two local promoters should send shivers down the spines of every resident who moved here to avoid heavy commercial areas and to enjoy a quiet residential community.

This tranquility would sharply end with the mammoth commercial development of 640-acre Tract 16 in the heart of Deltona, bordered by residential and school sites. When the promoters' gilded packaging, buffer zones, land swaps and deals are stripped away, there remains a giant shopping complex capable of eventually accommodating more than 2,500 retail stores and buildings. Something of this magnitude more appropriately belongs on Interstate 4.

It is being touted to rival Walt Disney World's Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village. One can imagine the nightmare of outside traffic generated on our already overburdened roads.

The effect on our quality of life, environment, traffic and future educational center would be disastrous.

Factors to consider:

- Education. A square-mile tract is owned by the state, set aside for educational purposes and managed by the school system. With one school already there, two others planned, and a setting ideal for nature trails, bike paths, natural science studies, along with a possible cultural arts center for everyone, it seems almost criminal to ruin the land for heavy incompatible use.

- Traffic. With an admitted 10- to 20-year span to develop the site fully, we can expect years of construction and heavy equipment traversing and destroying our roads - at taxpayers' expense.

- Planning. Downtowns are passe in modern suburban planning. Instead, civic centers, which serve only local needs (chambers, related businesses and a meeting place for civic and governmental functions) represent more responsible future planning. These require no shopping centers and should be placed on smaller, properly zoned parcels. Many shopping centers are going broke and all have vacancies, which sooner or later become eyesores and targets of vandalism. The economic effect on our existing shopping centers would be devastating.

- Zoning. Ideally, under home rule and a strong local master plan, undesirable rezoning requests can be readily rejected. Remember, too, that many charters now include the right of the citizen to vote on any major rezoning. However, because we are not incorporated and do not have direct control, the job is somewhat tougher.

Nevertheless, it can and must be done by citizen awareness and action. We should let School Superintendent James Surratt and school board member Ann McFall, who represents Deltona, know that Deltonans value and support the educational and environmental assets of this site, and that it must be wholly retained for the public welfare.

- Tax base. The touted advantages of a broader tax base with more and more commercial zoning also is being challenged. The increased city services required, the traffic, pollution, strain on our water and sewage system, and decreased residential property values all contradict any increased commercial revenues.

This is a matter of the people's best interest vs. a few special interests.

This proposal deserves the combined opposition of all local organizations, including the pro-incorporation and anti-incorporation forces.